Dechang Yang, better known as Edward Yang, who won best director at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival and was feted as one of Taiwan's most talented so-called 'New Wave' of directors, died of complications from colon cancer at his home in Beverly Hills, California, on June 29. He was 59.
Born in Shanghai on 6 November 1947 to a Confucian father and a Christian mother who had emigrated to Taiwan, Yang began making his own comics at just 10 years old after developing a liking for Japanese manga strips.
Yang undertook engineering studies before leaving to study computer science in the US, where he spent nine years. But after watching 'Aguirre, the Wrath of God,' the chief work of director Werner Herzog, he decided to become a filmmaker on his return to Taiwan in 1981.
The following year, he directed 'Zhiwang,' the first part of the series 'In Our Time,' which is often considered the starting point of Taiwanese cinema's New Wave. He went on to make films that won awards at a number of festivals.
Yang achieved international recognition with the film 'Yi Yi,' a critically acclaimed and rich depiction of a middle class family undergoing changes, which won him the best director prize at Cannes. (Source: khaleejtimes.com, Jul 1, 2007).